Clark gets additional 60 days to surrender to federal authorities

Former Lighthouse Inn operator Maureen Clark, who was due to surrender to federal authorities Monday to begin serving an 87-month prison sentence for investment fraud, has received a 60-day extension so that she can get her personal and financial affairs in order.

Judge Warren W. Eginton ordered Clark, 58, of Stonington, to turn herself in to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on June 24 following a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. Clark is expected to serve her time at the Federal Prison Camp in Danbury, according to a court document.

In an April 8 motion to the court, attorney Todd Bussert asked the judge to extend Clark's surrender date so that she could help her husband, Robert Clark, who Bussert said was diagnosed with a debilitating illness during Clark's trial, "transition into a smaller residence."

Clark also needs time to transfer the couple's financial affairs to her husband and attend several medical appointments, according to the legal filing. Clark does not anticipate seeking further extensions, "absent extraordinary circumstances," the motion says. She may, however, renew a motion to remain free on bond while an appeal of her case is pending, according to the motion.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. McGarry, who prosecuted Clark, opposed the extension, according to the motion.

A federal jury in July 2012 found Clark guilty of 20 felony crimes, including one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 13 counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering. Eginton sentenced Clark to 87 months in prison in March and ordered her to repay the victims.

According to the government, Clark and her business partner, Christopher Plummer, defrauded investors of $1.7 million in a resort investment scheme in Mississippi and spent the money on the failing Lighthouse Inn and on themselves. Plummer pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and is serving a 51-month prison sentence.